FIFA Confederations Cup

The FIFA Confederations Cup, also simply called the Confederations Cup, was an official international football tournament organized by FIFA. The six champion teams from the continental confederations that make up the highest body of world football participated in it, in addition to the current world champion and the host country for a total of eight contenders. It was the second most important tournament at the national team level organized by FIFA after the World Cup.

Since 2005, it has been held every four years; initially the first editions of 1992 and 1995 were held with an interval of three years, and from 1995 to 2005 it was held every two years. Since 2001 (with the exception of 2003), it has been held one year before the World Cup in the host country.

The Confederations Cup was held ten times, in which six countries lifted the cup: Brazil was the most successful team, with four titles; France followed with two trophies; while Argentina, Mexico, Denmark and Germany have been titled champions on one occasion. The tournament presented a strong dominance of the South American and European teams: the former won the title five times, while the Europeans won it four times. The tournament's all-time top scorers are Ronaldinho and Cuauhtémoc Blanco; both with 9 goals.

History

Background

Before the Confederations Cup, there were other official intercontinental tournaments in its time. On the one hand, there was the Artemio Franchi Cup, which at that time was held in two editions in 1985 and 1993, in which the European champion faced off against the South American champion. This competition was the equivalent in national teams to the extinct Intercontinental Cup at the club level and owed its name to the former president of the Italian Association, and later President of UEFA, Artemio Franchi (1922-1983). On the other hand, there was the Afro-Asian Nations Cup, which was held irregularly between 1978 and 2007, and in which the champions of Africa and Asia measured their forces.

Beginnings under the name of “Copa Rey Fahd” (1992-1995)

The tournament was born in 1992 under the name King Fahd Cup in honor of the then King of Saudi Arabia, who organized the tournament with his country's federation from 1992 to 1995.

In 1997, FIFA upgraded it and increased the number of participants to eight (adding to the participating teams the world champion and the winner of Oceania) and changed its name to the FIFA Confederations Cup making the first two editions official.

Continuity as the FIFA Confederations Cup (1997-2017)

At first it was held every two years and until 1997 it was held in Saudi Arabia. From 1999 to 2003 it was carried out in different countries; However, FIFA decided that from 2005 it would be held every four years, in the year preceding the Soccer World Cup, having the same venue, this to test the organizational capacity of the host country of that event.

In 2001, as a preview of the 2002 Soccer World Cup, it was hosted by South Korea and Japan. Under this precedent, Germany also organized the one in 2005. The next edition was held in South Africa from June 14 to 28, 2009. The previous 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was held in Brazil and in 2017 it was held in Russia.

In the 2003 tournament, the world was shocked by the death of Cameroonian player Marc-Vivien Foé, who died from a stretched left ventricle in the 71st minute of the semifinal match between Cameroon and Colombia in Lyon.

Cancellation of the 2021 Confederations Cup and extinction

Initially, the 2021 Confederations Cup was awarded to Qatar on December 2, 2010, as the organizer of the 2022 Soccer World Cup. Due to the high temperatures of the Qatari summer and the impossibility of date changes (Contrary to what happened for the World Cup) due to soccer calendars scheduled for that year, on February 25, 2015, FIFA decided to withdraw the venue for this event from Qatar and opened the candidacy to the different associations of the same continent to replace by a new tournament, while the World Cup was held between November 20 and December 18, 2022. However, the country was going to be compensated by organizing another FIFA tournament to be held in December 2021 as test for the 2022 World Cup. This tournament ended up being the Arab Cup, played between November 30 and December 18, 2021.

In March 2019, the president of FIFA announced the creation of a new expanded Club World Cup that will replace the Confederations Cup and that will occupy the dates of said tournament, deeming extinct and the dispute of this tournament ended. In June 2022, the format of the Artemio Franchi Cup returned with the name of Conmebol-UEFA Champions Cup, commonly called "Finalissima".

Participants

The Confederations Cup brought together the champions of the different continental tournaments of each confederation and began its cycle from the culmination of the FIFA World Cup, the winner being the first to automatically have access to the competition. Later, the champions of the Asian Cup, the African Cup of Nations, the Gold Cup, the Copa América, the Nations Cup, the European Championship, and the host of the tournament were added. If any country repeated these criteria or in some cases refused to participate, the runner-up or the best positioned country in their tournament area took the place of the confederation or world champion.

• AFC: Asian Cup (Asia countries, except Israel, Kazakhstan and Turkey; more Australia, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam).
• CAF: African Cup of Nations (African countries).
• Concacaf: Concacacaf Cup (North America, Central America, Caribbean Islands, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana).
• Conmebol: American Cup (South American countries, except Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, plus two guests).
• OFC: United Nations Cup (country of Oceania except Australia, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and Palaos).
• UEFA: Eurocopa (country of Europe, Israel, Kazakhstan and Turkey).

Trophy

The first trophy was presented in the 1992 edition of the King Fahd Cup. This cup was made and produced by the Bertoni house (the same one that designed the Artemio Franchi Cup and the World Cup). The trophy was made of sterling silver and gold plated. It had the shape of a hexagonal palm tree and on it was attached a sphere in the shape of a soccer ball where the world and its continents were represented. On the base of the palm tree were engraved, in each of its six corners, the names of the six confederations belonging to FIFA. Finally, the cup was attached to a base formed by two concentric rings of malachite. Between both rings was written the legend "Intercontinental Cup of Selections for King Fahd" (first in Arabic and then in English).

The second Confederations Cup trophy was presented in the 1997 edition to replace the old King Fahd trophy. This new cup was created by Fritz Jucker and produced by the goldsmith Walter Schumacher. The measure of the statuette is 44.5 centimeters, with a maximum wingspan of 17 centimeters and an approximate weight of 7.5 kilograms. The diameter of the pedestal is 17 centimeters.

The cup is made of bronze and plated with gold. In turn, the trophy is represented by a terrestrial sphere that symbolizes the world and its six continents. The name of the competition was engraved on two ribbon-shaped bands that start from the base of the spine and spiral up to the globe. The trophy column was mounted on a lapis lazuli pedestal attached to two concentric gold rings. In the center were six shields of the confederations, bathed in gold, which were accompanied by another concentric ring that joined them. Finally, the pedestal was attached to a hexagonal wooden base where golden plates were located on its sides, to inscribe the names of the champions and their respective editions.

Since the 2013 edition, the trophy has undergone significant changes. The name of the tournament has been removed from the spiral-shaped ribbons that wrap the trophy. The pedestal was replaced by a blue marble one, losing its three golden concentric rings, but keeping the shields of the confederations. The hexagonal base was replaced by another in the form of an extension of the pedestal, which has a plaque with the legend FIFA Confederations Cup on its front. On the back of the base there is a small rectangular plate with the same description as the front plate, also adding the venue and edition of the tournament in dispute.

Results and statistics

Championships

This table shows the main results of the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Year	Headquarters	Champion	Final Outcome	Subfield	Third place	Outcome	Fourth place
Intercontinental Championship / King Fahd Cup
1992 Detail	Saudi Arabia	Argentina	3:1	Saudi Arabia	United States	5:2	Ivory Coast
1995 Detail	Saudi Arabia	Denmark	2:0	Argentina	Mexico	1:1 5:4 (pen.)	Nigeria
FIFA Cup Confederations / Confederations Cup / Confederations Cup
1997 Detail	Saudi Arabia	Brazil	6:0	Australia	Czech Republic	1:0	Uruguay
1999 Detail	Mexico	Mexico	4:3	Brazil	United States	2:0	Saudi Arabia
2001 Detail	South Korea and Japan	France	1:0	Japan	Australia	1:0	Brazil
2003 Detail	France	France	1:0 (t.e)	Cameroon	Turkey	2:1	Colombia
2005 Detail	Germany	Brazil	4:1	Argentina	Germany	4:3 (t.e)	Mexico
2009 Detail	South Africa	Brazil	3:2	United States	Spain	3:2 (t.e)	South Africa
2013 Detail	Brazil	Brazil	3:0	Spain	Italy	2:2 3:2 (pen.)	Uruguay
2017 Detail	Russia	Germany	1:0	Chile	Portugal	2:1 (t.e)	Mexico

Teams

Map according to results in the Confederations Cup and host countries.

33 different teams have participated throughout the FIFA Confederations Cup. Of all these teams, only 13 have reached the final of the tournament and 6 have achieved victory.

Brazil is the most successful team, reaching four championships, followed by France with two. In statistical terms, Brazil is the team with the most victories, followed by France; Also, it has been the team with the most participations in finals, in a total of 5.

Brazil and France are also the only teams to have won tournaments consecutively: France won two in 2001 and 2003, while the South Americans did it three times in a row in 2005, 2009 and 2013. The 2009 final, moreover, It was the first in which a three-time champion was crowned, Brazil after beating the United States 3-2.

Of the six champion teams; Brazil, Mexico and France have been champions at least once when the tournament was hosted on their home soil. On the other hand, Brazil, Argentina, Denmark and France are the teams that have won a tournament outside their continent: in Saudi Arabia 1997, Germany 2005 and South Africa 2009 for the first, in Saudi Arabia 1992 for the second, in Saudi Arabia 1995 for the third and in South Korea and Japan 2001 for the fourth.

In terms of participation, Brazil and Mexico are the teams with the most events played with 7 each, followed by Japan with 5 and the United States and Saudi Arabia with 4.

Honours of Prizes

The list below shows the 22 teams that have been in the top four of any edition of the tournament.

In italics, the tournament in which the team was home is indicated.

Equipment	Champion	Subfield	Third post	Fourth
BRABrazil	4 (1997, 2005, 2009, 2013)	1 (1999)		1 (2001)
FRAFrance	2 (2001, 2003)
ARGArgentina	1 (1992)	2 (1995, 2005)
MEXMexico	1 (1999)		1 (1995)	2 (2005, 2017)
GERGermany	1 (2017)		1 (2005)
DENDenmark	1 (1995)
USAUnited States		1 (2009)	2 (1992, 1999)
AUSAustralia		1 (1997)	1 (2001)
ESPSpain		1 (2013)	1 (2009)
KSASaudi Arabia		1 (1992)		1 (1999)
JPNJapan		1 (2001)
CMRCameroon		1 (2003)
CHIChile		1 (2017)
CZECzech Republic			1 (1997)
TURTurkey			1 (2003)
ITAItaly			1 (2013)
BYPortugal			1 (2017)
URUUruguay				2 (1997, 2013)
CIVIvory Coast				1 (1992)
NGANigeria				1 (1995)
COLColombia				1 (2003)
RSASouth Africa				1 (2009)

Titles by confederation

Players

In terms of games played, the Brazilian Dida played 22 games, a record that remains to this day.

In terms of goals, the nine scored by Mexican Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Brazilian Ronaldinho make them the players who have scored the most goals in all Cup events. In the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazilian Romário scored 7 goals, a figure that has remained the highest number of goals achieved in a single event, being his only annotations in the confederations cup.

The players with the most goals and appearances in the Confederations Cup are listed below. In italics the players that remain active to date are indicated.

Note: In bold active players selectable by your selection.

Pos.	Player	G.	Part.	Prom.	Debut
1	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	9	8	1.13	1997 (3), 1999 (6)
=	Ronaldinho	9	13	0.69	1999 (6), 2005 (3)
3	Fernando Torres	8	9	0.89	2009 (3), 2013 (5)
4	Romário	7	4	1.75	1997 (7)
=	Adriano	7	8	0.88	2003 (2), 2005 (5)
6	Marchuk Al-Otaibi	6	4	1.50	1999 (6)
=	David Villa	6	8	0.75	2009 (3), 2013 (3)
8	Vladimír Šmicer	5	5	1.00	1997 (5)
=	Luís Fabiano	5	5	1.00	2009 (5)
=	Fred.	5	5	1.00	2013 (5)
=	Alexsandro de Souza	5	7	0.71	1999 (4), 2003 (1)
=	John Aloisi	5	9	0.56	1997 (1), 2005 (4)
=	Robert Pirès	5	10	0.50	2001 (2), 2003 (3)

Updated until the end of the 2017 edition.

Note: In bold players selectable by your selection.

Pos.	Player	Part.	Debut
1	Dida	22	1997
2	Lúcio	17	2001
3	Pavel Pardo	16	1997
4	Claudio Suárez	14	1995
5	Ronaldinho	13	1999
6	Tony Vidmar	11	1997
=	Emerson	11	1999
8	Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi	10	1992
=	Robert Pirès	10	2001
=	Sylvain Wiltord	10	2001
11	Salvador Carmona	10	1997
=	Hidetoshi Nakata	10	2001
=	Kaká	10	2005
=	Robinho	10	2005
=	Zé Roberto	10	2005
=	Oswaldo Sánchez	10	1997
=	Julius Caesar	10	2009

Updated until the end of the 2017 edition.

Coaches

Ten different coaches have won the trophy, no coach has repeated the title. It should be noted that all the coaches who have won a championship have been of the same nationality as the teams they directed.

Goals

During the 9 editions of the Confederations Cup played until 2013, 380 goals. Of these, 5 have been own goals.

At the tournament level, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup is the one with the highest number of goals, with 68 goals scored in its 16 games each, while the lowest number was in 1992 with 18 goals in just 4 games. Considering the number of games, the highest number of goals per game was in the 1992 Confederations, with 4.5 goals per game; the lowest figure, meanwhile, was 1.93 goals per game in the 2001 Confederations. The Mexican Cuauhtémoc Blanco and the Brazilian Ronaldinho are both the top scorers in the history of the tournament with 9.

The draws of the participating teams have sometimes produced matches between teams of very different levels, which has resulted in wins. However, not all matches with a high number of goals scored are solely due to wins: the game with the most goals scored was the one played between Spain and Tahiti in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, which ended with a Spanish win by 10: 0, this being the highest result in the history of the tournament, that tournament due to the amateurism of the Tahiti team gave rise to three of the highest goalscoring in the history of the tournament. The final with the most scores, meanwhile, was the one played in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup by Mexico and Brazil, which ended with the victory of the former by 4:3. Also noteworthy is Brazil's 6:0 victory over Australia in the 1997 final, the largest result in a final.

The biggest wins in the FIFA Confederations Cup are listed below:

Selection	Outcome	Selection	Edition
SpainSpain	10:0	TahitiTahiti	Brazil 2013
UruguayUruguay	8:0	TahitiTahiti	Brazil 2013
BrazilBrazil	8:2	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	Mexico 1999
BrazilBrazil	6:0	AustraliaAustralia	Saudi Arabia 1997
United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates	1:6	Czech RepublicCzech Republic	Saudi Arabia 1997
NigeriaNigeria	6:1	TahitiTahiti	Brazil 2013
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	0:5	MexicoMexico	Saudi Arabia 1997
New ZealandNew Zealand	0:5	SpainSpain	South Africa 2009
FranceFrance	5:0	South Korea	South Korea and Japan 2001
FranceFrance	5:0	New ZealandNew Zealand	France 2003
ArgentinaArgentina	5:1	JapanJapan	Saudi Arabia 1995
MexicoMexico	5:1	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	Mexico 1999
EgyptEgypt	1:5	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	Mexico 1999

Historical classification

• Updated to the last game played on July 2, 2017.

Pos.	Selection	Part.	PJ	PG	PE	P	GF	GC	Dif.	Points	Titles
1	BRABrazil	7	33	23	5	5	78	28	+50	74	4
2°	MEXMexico	7	27	11	6	10	44	43	+1	39	1
3°	FRAFrance	2	10	9	0	1	24	5	+19	27	2
4°	GERGermany	3	13	8	2	3	29	22	+7	26	1
5°	ESPSpain	2	10	7	1	2	26	8	+18	22	-
6°	USAUnited States	4	15	6	1	8	20	20	0	19	-
7°	ARGArgentina	3	10	5	3	2	22	14	+8	18	1
8°	AUSAustralia	4	16	5	3	8	17	25	-8	18	-
9°	JPNJapan	5	17	5	2	10	19	25	-6	17	-
10°	URUUruguay	2	10	5	1	4	22	13	+9	16	-
11°	CMRCameroon	3	11	4	2	5	7	11	-4	14	-
12°	BYPortugal	1	5	3	2	0	9	3	+6	11	-
13°	ITAItaly	2	8	3	2	3	13	15	-2	11	-
14th	KSASaudi Arabia	4	12	3	1	8	13	31	-18	10	-
15°	NGANigeria	2	6	2	2	2	11	7	+4	8	-
16°	DENDenmark	1	3	2	1	0	5	1	+4	7	1
17°	CZECzech Republic	1	5	2	1	2	10	7	+3	7	-
18°	TURTurkey	1	5	2	1	2	8	8	0	7	-
19°	CHIChile	1	5	1	3	1	4	3	+1	6	-
20°	COLColombia	1	5	2	0	3	5	5	0	6	-
21°	KORSouth Korea	1	3	2	0	1	3	6	-3	6	-
22nd	RSASouth Africa	2	8	1	2	5	9	13	-4	5	-
23°	EGYEgypt	2	6	1	2	3	8	17	-9	5	-
24°	RUSRussia	1	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	3	-
25°	TUNTunisia	1	3	1	0	2	3	5	-2	3	-
26°	UAEUnited Arab Emirates	1	3	1	0	2	2	8	-6	3	-
27°	BOLBolivia	1	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2	-
28°	IRQIraq	1	3	0	2	1	0	1	-1	2	-
29°	GREGreece	1	3	0	1	2	0	4	-4	1	-
30°	CANCanada	1	3	0	1	2	0	5	-5	1	-
31°	NZLNew Zealand	4	12	0	1	11	3	32	-29	1	-
32°	CIVIvory Coast	1	2	0	0	2	2	9	-7	0	-
33°	TAHTahiti	1	3	0	0	3	1	24	-23	0	-

Awards

During the FIFA Confederations Cup, the organization arranges for the delivery of various prizes according to the participation of the teams and players throughout the tournament. Without a doubt, the main prize is the title of champion of the event; the team that manages to be crowned champion receives the FIFA Confederations Cup Trophy for four years (since 2005).

Scorers

Since the beginning of the tournament, one of the most important prizes is the scorer of the event, that is, the player who scores the most goals during the final phase of each World Cup. Since its inception, the award was officially instituted as the "Golden Booty". The "silver booty" and the "bronze booty" were also awarded, for the players in second and third place in the scorers' statistics. If there are two or more players with the same number of goals, each one receives the corresponding prize, regardless of the number of minutes played by each one or if the goals were scored on penalties. Statistically, the 2001 Confederations Cup stands out, in which there were 7 scorers, being the fewest goals scored by a scorer with only two scores each.

Cup	Goleador	Goles
Saudi Arabia 1992	Gabriel Batistuta	2
	Bruce Murray
Saudi Arabia 1995	Luis García	3
Saudi Arabia 1997	Romário	7
Mexico 1999	Ronaldinho	6
	Cuauhtémoc Blanco
	Marchuk Al-Otaibi
South Korea / Japan 2001	Shaun Murphy Éric Carrière Robert Pirès Patrick Vieira Sylvain Wiltord Takayuki Suzuki Hwang Sun-hong	2
France 2003	Thierry Henry	4
Germany 2005	Adriano	5
South Africa 2009	Luís Fabiano	5
Brazil 2013	Fernando Torres	5
	Fred.
Russia 2017	Timo Werner Leon Goretzka Lars Stindl	3

Ballon d'Or

The "Ballon d'Or" award is given to the best player in each edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup. This recognition is given since the creation of the tournament. In the first two editions in 1992 and 1995 the silver and bronze balls were not awarded, but not until the 1997 edition.

Cup	Golden Ball	Equipment	Silver ball	Equipment	Bronze ball	Equipment
Saudi Arabia 1992	Fernando Redondo	ARGArgentina	-		-
Saudi Arabia 1995	Brian Laudrup	DENDenmark	-		-
Saudi Arabia 1997	Denílson	BRABrazil	Romário	BRABrazil	Vladimír Šmicer	CZECzech Republic
Mexico 1999	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	MEXMexico	Ronaldinho	BRABrazil	Marchuq Al-Otaibi	KSASaudi Arabia
South Korea / Japan 2001	Robert Pirès	FRAFrance	Patrick Vieira	FRAFrance	Hidetoshi Nakata	JapanJapan
France 2003	Thierry Henry	FRAFrance	Tuncay Şanlı	TURTurkey	Marc-Vivien Foé	CMRCameroon
Germany 2005	Adriano	BRABrazil	Juan Román Riquelme	ARGArgentina	Ronaldinho	BRABrazil
South Africa 2009	Kaká	BRABrazil	Luís Fabiano	BRABrazil	Clint Dempsey	USAUnited States
Brazil 2013	Neymar	BRABrazil	Andrés Iniesta	ESPSpain	Paulinho	BRABrazil
Russia 2017	Julian Draxler	GERGermany	Alexis Sánchez	CHIChile	Leon Goretzka	GERGermany

Gold Glove

The "Golden Glove" award has been given since the 2005 Confederations to the best goalkeeper in each tournament.

Cup	Selection	Porter
Germany 2005	Mexico	Oswaldo Sánchez
South Africa 2009	United States	Tim Howard
Brazil 2013	Brazil	Julius Caesar
Russia 2017	Chile	Claudio Bravo

Fair Play Award

The «Fair Play Award» has been awarded since the 1997 Confederations to the team with the best discipline in each tournament.

Cup	Selection
Saudi Arabia 1997	South Africa
Mexico 1999	New Zealand and Brazil
South Korea and Japan 2001	Japan
France 2003	Japan
Germany 2005	Greece
South Africa 2009	Brazil
Brazil 2013	ESPSpain
Russia 2017	GermanyGermany

All-Star Team

In each tournament, since 2009, an "star team" in which the best players of each event in each of the positions are listed.

FIFA Cup Confederations South Africa 2009
Porter	Defenders	Midfielders	Delanteros
Tim Howard	Joan Capdevila Carles Puyol Lúcio Maicon	Kaká Mohamed Aboutrika Clint Dempsey	Fernando Torres David Villa Luís Fabiano

FIFA Cup Confederations Brazil 2013
Porter	Defense	Campers	Delanteros
Julius Caesar	David Luiz Thiago Silva Sergio Ramos Dani Alves	Andrés Iniesta Andrea Pirlo Paulinho	Neymar Fernando Torres Fred.

Goal of the Tournament

Cup	Selection	Author of the goal	Contrary team
Brazil 2013	URUUruguay	Luis Suárez	ESPSpain
Russia 2017	MexicoMexico	Marco Fabián	GermanyGermany

Triplets or more

The triplets achieved throughout the competition are detailed below.

Date	Player	Goles	Local	Outcome	Visitor	Edition
17/12/1997	Vladimír Šmicer		United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates	1:6	Czech RepublicCzech Republic	1997
21/12/1997	Ronaldo		BrazilBrazil	6:0	AustraliaAustralia	1997
21/12/1997	Romário		BrazilBrazil	6:0	AustraliaAustralia	1997
25/7/1999	Cuauhtémoc Blanco		MexicoMexico	5:1	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	1999
29/7/1999	Marchuq Al-Otaibi		EgyptEgypt	1:5	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	1999
1/8/1999	Ronaldinho		BrazilBrazil	8:2	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	1999
18/6/2005	Luciano Figueroa		AustraliaAustralia	2:4	ArgentinaArgentina	2005
14/6/2009	Fernando Torres		New ZealandNew Zealand	0:5	SpainSpain	2009
17/6/2013	Nnamdi Oduamadi		TahitiTahiti	1:6	NigeriaNigeria	2013
20/6/2013	Fernando Torres		SpainSpain	10:0	TahitiTahiti	2013
20/6/2013	David Villa		SpainSpain	10:0	TahitiTahiti	2013
23/6/2013	Abel Hernández		UruguayUruguay	8:0	TahitiTahiti	2013